The Walter McKenzie Collection consists largely of materials created as a result of the Japanese War Crimes Trials. The collection has been arranged into eight series: Biographical/Personal; Correspondence; Articles, Speeches, etc.; International Military Tribunal for the Far East, International Prosecution Section; University of Michigan; World War I (Polar Bear Expedition); Miscellaneous; and Photographs. The Walter McKenzie Collection covers many aspects of McKenzie's life in addition to the Polar Bear expedition. The bulk of the collection consists largely of materials created as a result of the Japanese War Crimes Trials. The collection has been arranged into eight series: Biographical/Personal; Correspondence; Articles, Speeches, etc.; International Military Tribunal for the Far East, International Prosecution Section; University of Michigan; World War I (Polar Bear Expedition); Miscellaneous; and Photographs. Only the Polar Bear material and some biographical material has been digitized and can be viewed here. Researchers must visit the library to view the rest of McKenzie's collection. The Polar Bear materials consist of a diary, June 1918-July 1919, describing his voyage to Russia, his stay in a Red Cross Hospital there, routine work at headquarters, life in Archangel, a supply trip up the Dvina River in a gunboat in June 1919, and the voyage home. Also included are correspondence, June 1918-July 1919, describing life at Camp Custer, the voyage to Russia, life in Archangel, civilian conditions there, his ambition to go to the front, and his boat trip up the river. Other materials include ca. 30 picture postcards of Archangel, Murmansk, and countryside scenes, an issue of The Call, an English-language Bolshevik newspaper published in Moscow, a copy of the constitution of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic, an issue of The Mess Kit and one of the Daily Communique, both published in France for American soldiers, consisting of poems, and miscellaneous programs, clippings, and rosters.
Walter Ingles McKenzie was born in Muskegon, Michigan February 9, 1888. He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1915. During World War I, he served as a member of the 339th Infantry sent to northern Russia as part of the Polar Bear Expedition; and during the 1920s and 1930s he was a Democratic party worker and candidate for state office.
In 1946 Walter McKenzie was granted a leave of absence from his position as Referee in Bankruptcy for the Eastern District of Michigan to serve as an Assistant U.S. Prosecutor at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East. As part of the so-called Japanese War Crimes Trial, McKenzie was specifically charged with that part of the indictment relating to Japanese military aggressions in Manchuria. McKenzie stayed in Tokyo for much of 1946, then returned to the United States in 1947, where he resumed the practice of law.
